Can a child be unintentionally excluded from a parent’s revocable trust?

In Florida, and many other states, there are protections written into the probate code which purport to protect children from unintentional disinheritance by one or both of their parents. Florida’s pretermitted child statute is codified at Fla. Stat. §732.302 and is intended avoid an unintentional or inadvertent disinheritance of a child. Florida’s statute is modeled in part after the position adopted by the Restatement of Property and the Uniform Probate Code.

The Restatement of Property provides:

§ 9.6 Protection Of Child Or Descendant Against Unintentional Disinheritance

(a) A child of the testator, or under some statutes a descendant of the testator, who was not provided for in the testator’s will may be entitled to a specified share of the testator’s estate as provided by statute. Most of the statutes, including the Original and Revised Uniform Probate Code, only protect a child who was born or adopted after the will was executed.

(b) A child of the testator who was not provided for in the testator’s will because the testator thought that the child was dead may be entitled to a specified share of the testator’s estate as provided by statute.

(c) The omitted child or descendant is entitled to the specified share unless a contrary intent or other statutory exception is established. Read the rest of this entry